The Dorian Gray Shock

Every single thought

That haunts my mind

Takes me back in time

To all those people

I loved some still here

Some have passed,

Many moons ago

And though they’re gone

They are still here,

In my heart, in my soul,

In memories of long ago.

Each one of them

Shared with me his wisdom:

To stay human, endure pain,

Even when this feels insane;

To move on, to fight, to survive,

Think only of values

That really count,

The reason I was born

The reason I must die.

Whether it’s the Fall

When their voices screech,

Through fissured walls,

Or whisper in my ears

In spring, on a breeze

Or deafen me in winter

With their hallowed howls,

I still listen to their stories.

I’ve learnt with age

When we are born

Time slips out of its cage

Furtive, like a silent thief:

The clock is its beating heart.

At first, it walks at a snail’s pace,

Deludes me it will never pass

And I will never grow,

That childhood is immortal,

That I was a child forever

Eternal, immune to death;

It’s what it made me believe.

Now I look at the mirror

After all this time and know

Like Dorian, I have been mocked

And I am still to recover

From this shock.